So far only one chapter ?
- Redmile247

See you tomorrow.

Have you read Moby Richard?
- A_SteamingLombardi

Richard...


Not even Moby is safe from the PC cops.

Have you read Moby Richard?
- A_SteamingLombardi

Did you ever read "Heart of the Sea"? They recently made a movie of it but the book is excellent. Its the events that inspired the writing of Moby D!ck actually.

This is a fairly common conclusion reached by many Hockey Men.

At its core is this thought: “There are no guarantees with getting high picks. Nothing is absolutely certain. Therefore, everything is equal.”

If building through the draft is the only real way to get a contender, and it is, what exactly is the alternative to high draft picks?

If high picks don’t work, what does?

Low draft picks?

You don’t really see this in other sports.

People don’t say, “Look at the Cleveland Browns, high picks didn’t work for them. It’s a cautionary tale.”

No. They say, “Look at the Cleveland Browns. They were dumb. Don’t be dumb.”

As someone said to me about this Sabres take:

“This is literally the anti-vaccination argument.

“Don’t need to vaccinate our kids because there’s some kid out there who still got sick.”

The answer to any rebuilding question can’t be “high picks don’t work.”

Decades of evidence that show definitively in all sports better players are taken earlier in drafts.

There’s just no getting around this fact.

So instead of looking at where the Sabres picked, why not look at their scouting?

Why not focus on why they missed and why they whiffed?

Maybe get better scouts? A better tracking and data system? Stop using Stathletes? (OK, that last one is only a joke, Meghan.)

I find all of it troubling in Vancouver because where the Canucks sit now and how they look going forward has been re-shaped by one Elias Pettersson.

He is an elite player. Full stop. The Canucks got him by tanking. Full stop.

In the 2017 season, the Canucks traded veterans and they shut down veterans who would have played if the team was any good. They added kids. They let Willie Desjardins do whatever he wanted, including playing the poop out of Chaput and Megna, and he did that when they needed goals and no one cared.

The team tanked. There was literally nothing more they could have done to be worse. They were the worst team in hockey. They went 4-14-2 after the deadline and finished the season with eight consecutive losses.

They finished with 69 points. Two teams ahead of them had 70. There was also Vegas in the mix. One more win and they could have dropped two spots.

They had the second-worst record in hockey.

What do people say?

You need high picks, and you need luck, too.

It’s well known by now the Canucks would not have taken the so-called big two at the 2017 draft because the Canucks admitted it.


Linden said canucks wouldn't have picked Hischier or Patrick 1st OA had they won the lottery #wow

— RD (@BuckFoston_) August 25, 2017



There is one player who they may have taken ahead of Pettersson, and it’s Makar.

But the draft fell their way. They lost the lottery and still had a top-five pick.

Everyone says you need to bad and lucky. They were both. It was a tanker’s dream come true.

Without Pettersson, the rebuild is dead in the water, over before it really started.

He is that kind of difference-maker.

Without him, I could easily see the Canucks getting to the point where they’d have to consider trading Horvat to re-start things.

Interestingly, Blashill was asked yesterday about the stage the Wings are in during this rebuild cycle and he said this:

“I think the biggest thing is, to be a team that’s in the playoffs, you have to have elite players.

“Can some of our young guys become elite?

“The quicker they can become elite, the quicker we’re back in the mix.

“I think a guy like Dylan Larkin on a night-by-night basis is an elite player.

“I think on the Canucks, Boeser and Pettersson, I would say the same thing.

“You probably have to get to three (elite players) to be a playoff team.

“You probably have to get to four or five to be a real Stanley Cup contender.”

I’m not going to go through every team, but look at the one at the top.

Tampa has Stamkos, Point, Kucherov and Hedman as elite players and then maybe five or six players at the Horvat level.

I’m not sure where Boeser would slot in on that team, but you can debate whether he’d be included as elite or not.

The Canucks do have Quinn Hughes, and he has the potential to be elite.
- LeftCoaster

Thanks, Lefty

Thanks, Lefty
- Nucker101

That was quite the post of his.

After arguing for years that that JB is an idiot for not tanking... and people arguing with Lefty that we are tanking.... his new narrative is we were tanking and people simply didnt understand tanking. Got it.

Feels like a Lefty rewrite... or Bloated's math lessons.

Calgary were a bunch of drunks last year
- VANTEL

And coke-heads.

So far only one chapter ?
- Redmile247

I read one line

That was quite the post of his.

After arguing for years that that JB is an idiot for not tanking... and people arguing with Lefty that we are tanking.... his new narrative is we were tanking and people simply didnt understand tanking. Got it.

Feels like a Lefty rewrite... or Bloated's math lessons.

- boonerbuck

I read one line

The exact same regurgitated worn out alternative topic for discussion.

Green isn’t going to tank, players aren’t going to tank, Benning has no intentions of tanking.

Now if stickboy gets injured again (seems likely), Markstrom reverts back to crap, Boeser and Horvat dry up again and the team losses 10 in a row, then Lefty and Bloated can rejoice and proclaim the tank was always the plan.
- Makita

This

Tank.

The math... lol. Everyone understands this... everyone. It seems weird that you keep pointing out though.


If you stated that 2+2=4 and no one said anything and looked at you in all puzzled... would you assume no one but you knows?
- boonerbuck

Here, amongst this motley crew, yes, I would assume that nobody knows.

didn't we finish 2nd last and drop to 5? didn't the Flyers go from 13th to 2 ?
- onesmallleap

Add to that the probability of dropping in the draft is much higher if you finish in the bottom three, the 15th pick can't drop any spaces, that's where we should be aiming for.

Tank.
- Marwood

Tank.
- Marwood

poop disturber

Chiarelli getting mercilessly hammered on twitter for the past two days, it's awesome

Lets assume Hughes Cozens Byram Kakko and Podzkolzin are gone in first 5 and you end up 7 like last year who then?
- VANTEL

This is interesting because I'm of the opinion it doesn't matter where we finish anymore. We talk about how teams miss players all the time that go after the tip 5. Let's use Pastranak, Boeser, Debrincat etc etc. A good scouting group can find guys anywhere and while a top 5 to 10 pick makes your pick probably a bit easier there are no guarantees obviously. I look at our draft luck and am thrilled we didnt win the lottery the last 2 years or we very well may not have EP and Quinn. To me that is lottery luck. It's time to start winning with home grown guys. Stay the course try and get picks for expiring deals. Go canucks

I dont know why I quoted you Vantel lol. Have a nice day you guys

poop disturber
- Codes1087

Can't wait to see Schaller, Granlund, Erikksson, Hutton & Pouliot lead this team through the playoffs.

That was quite the post of his.

After arguing for years that that JB is an idiot for not tanking... and people arguing with Lefty that we are tanking.... his new narrative is we were tanking and people simply didnt understand tanking. Got it.

Feels like a Lefty rewrite... or Bloated's math lessons.

- boonerbuck

Lefty is just regurgitating garbage from Botchford. Not an original thought

Can't wait to see Schaller, Granlund, Erikksson, Hutton & Pouliot lead this team through the playoffs.
- Marwood

No need for those guys as we will have Ferland here to dispose of Calgary in the first round.

No need for those guys as we will have Ferland here to dispose of Calgary in the first round.
- LordHumungous

If we decide to dress bieksa and sbisa against ferland then I’ll be worried lol

If we decide to dress bieksa and sbisa against ferland then I’ll be worried lol
- Redmile247

lol Ferland pretty much made his way through the whole team those playoffs.

Would be ironic to see him vs the Flames but it won't happen.

lol Ferland pretty much made his way through the whole team those playoffs.

Would be ironic to see him vs the Flames but it won't happen.
- LordHumungous

Still can’t believe we both made the playoffs that year lol

So far only one chapter ?
- Redmile247

Please dont encourage him

Add to that the probability of dropping in the draft is much higher if you finish in the bottom three, the 15th pick can't drop any spaces, that's where we should be aiming for.
- Pres.cup

That logic is going to get you places in life

Tank.
- Marwood

Playoffs